Choosing The Perfect Floor For Open-Plan Spaces

Open-floor plans are a great way of making your space feel more airy and larger, for many it’s a way to be more social or to even keep a closer eye on the kids. But when it comes to the decor of an open-floor space then things can get a little tricky, especially with flooring. We’ve decided to create a little guide on how to choose the perfect floor for your open space, so hopefully this will help you out a little!

If you have a truly open dining, kitchen and living area then we would advise to use the same type of flooring throughout the area. By using the same material you are creating a cohesive flow on the surface, meaning that the space in general will feel more uniformed and calmer. If you have an area with cased openings then it is okay to switch the materials up, for example using wood floor in the living area but tiles in the kitchen. It all really depends how your home is laid out as to how consistent you need to be with materials.

You really need to consider the environment in which you’re laying the floor and what material you wish to use. Lets use tiles as an example again, whilst these are a good choice for kitchens and bathrooms they are a little cold when it comes to living/lounge areas. One of the most popular choices material wise for open plan living is laminate or engineered wood, this is because it’s suitable in most settings and wont warp or expand should it come into contact with changes in water and humidity levels. Whereas solid wood flooring might be a nice option for lounges and dining rooms, it isn’t the most sensible for kitchen areas; which obviously you have to consider for an open-plan home.

When it comes to hard or soft flooring in an open-plan space, hard flooring is probably the most sought after of the two. One, it’s considered to be more modern and two, it’s much easier to keep clean than carpets. But a hard floor doesn’t necessarily have to mean something cold for under your feet, and it doesn’t have to mean real wood either. Instead you could have something that was still soft but offered the protection of a hard floor; allow us to introduce vinyl. Vinyl flooring is a perfect substitute for other surfaces as it can imitate pretty much any material, just at a cheaper price and a lot comfier under foot.

Of course Vinyl flooring isn’t for everyone, if you are looking for something a little more hardwearing then perhaps laminate flooring is a better option. Laminate is one of the most popular choices for a floor and it would make an especially good one in an open living space as it imitates the look of real wood. However, laminate comes in at a much lower price than actual wood floors which is why it’s so heavily used in homes across the world.

So there you have it, just a few of our favourite flooring ideas for an open-plan living space. If you have an open-plan home we’d love to hear your thoughts and what kind of flooring you opted for!